Apple Watch Can Identify Diabetes With 85 Percent Accuracy

“Your heart beats 102,000 times per day, and it reacts to everything that happens in your life—what you're eating, how you exercise, a stressful moment, or a happy memory.” That’s the official pitch from Cardiogram, the app that is dedicated to monitoring heart health through wearable technology.

The app monitors users’ heart rhythms for a variety of health promotion purposes, and in a new clinical study, have identified the Apple Watch’s ability to detect diabetes with 85 per cent accuracy.

The study was conducted in conjunction with the University of California, San Fransisco, and monitored data from 14,000 Apple Watch wearers. From heart rate data analysis, the scientists were able to identify diabetes in 462 of the subjects.

According to the experts, heart rate can be used to recognize diabetes through the recognition of a resting heart rate variability. The implications of early detection of diabetes could bring enormous benefits for the health community, with 280 Australians developing diabetes every single day. Diabetes Australia estimates that there are up to 500,000 undiagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes, which could potentially be identified using wearables such as the Apple Watch.

This finding is the latest in a string of incredible discoveries from the team behind Cardiogram. They’ve previously been able to detect abnormal heart rates (with 97 per cent accuracy), diagnose sleep apnea (with 90 per cent accuracy), and identify hypertension with 82 per cent accuracy, all through Apple Watch heart rate measurements run through their app.

With a rise in the number of fitness and heart rate trackers on the market, the potential for preventative treatments is huge, and as the technology improves, so too do the possible medical applications. Find the right fitness tracker for you, and take control of your health.